Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Tomorrow it the birth anniversary of publishing and communications tycoon Samuel Newhouse (1895), anniversary of Morse opened his first telegraph line (1844 between Baltimore and Washington DC) The Brooklyn Bridge opened (1883), the Anti-Saloon founded (1893) and it is the start of the 70th Grand Prix de Monaco.

One wedding down, one this weekend and then two in June and two in September. Done. 🙂 I do enjoy seeing people having fun, it’s just that it’s so much work. But that isn’t why I brought this up. Since I won’t be having anymore weddings after this year, I don’t need that grassy space in the Courtyard where that little brick patio is.

So what I’m thinking I may do next year is to rip the grass out and create more gardens. Specifically as much native plants as I like and working the space into a rain garden. Maybe plant a tree over by the Mansion/Beach so by the time it’s mature, it will probably be about time for the big locus to come out (I imagine I will be long gone one way or another by then). 🙂 I think I would like to bring in a bunch of topsoil to build rolling hills with large rocks spread around. I could have a lot of fun tucking things away in there for people to find. Not a scavenger hunt, but architecturals and other objects of interest.

Speaking of gardens, here’s a pic of the Veranda gardens as they look today:

Everything’s growing in nicely. Do you notice the new trellis? I had been planning on getting rid of that white lattice one that was here when I bought the place. It was literally falling apart. I was out a Lowe’s a few months ago and thought I’d look around. It was sitting in the garden center in a cubical with a price of $56, but the $56 didn’t say what was $56. And there was no price on the box. It was early spring and I thought maybe it was last year’s model and they may have wanted to get rid of it. I took it and a few other items to check-out and it scanned in at $174. I said “Oh no, there’s no price on the box and it was in a section that said the price was $56. The manager was called and we walked back to see where I got it. She acknowledged that’s what the price looks like and she would sell it to me for that price. I said no, that was OK. I’ve made mistakes myself and appreciate someone understanding that something’s a mistake. I was back in the same Lowe’s a few weeks later and the same trellis was in the same section for $56. I called this to the attention of the garden manager and he was very polite and thanked me. I was in a few weeks later and bought it for $56. 🙂 If they can’t clean up their act after it being pointed out to them twice, shame on them.

And here’s a picture coming in to the Courtyard from the parking lot without the handicapped ramp:

That makes the entry into the Courtyard from the parking lot so much more open.

Speaking about the ramp, the plan was/is to move it to the back of the parking lot. It will attach to the Ballroom door in the parking lot and drop down to the door that used to go to the office and now goes to Bromeliad. It only stands twelve inches tall and is all the way in the back of the parking lot, mainly behind my truck. But part of it is visible from the street so I had to go through the historic review process. I really don’t care a lot, it’s just that I missed the deadline for the April meeting by one day. So I had to wait until the May meeting. And now I’m busy as all get out (sold out last night-a Tuesday Primus concert at AE Stage) and have battled getting back Downtown to pull the permit. Of course, when I did finally make it down there, I didn’t have a site plan (I should have known better) and had to come home, get one and then squeeze another trip down to the city. So all’s Kosher at this point, just waiting on Rick DiBucci to come and pour it.

Dave (I don’t remember his last name) was in charge of Light of Life, when I moved here. Real nice guy, played the game with the local Nazi’s when they remodeled their offices to keep everything smooth between the non profit and the neighborhood association. Non profits are like businesses to the neighborhood association. They would rather we were all elsewhere. Light of Life fills a big need in the community with homeless, abused women and other’s in need stabilizing these individuals and teaching them life and work skills. Light of Life blatantly lied to the neighborhood association last fall. (Can you believe I’m actually siding with the Nazi’s?) Light of Life has services spread all over the city and for efficiency, they are looking to combining everything into one campus. One of the sites they are considering is the old Columbus school across from the park along the ridge CCAC sits on. When asked what the status was for their plans, Light of Life claimed it was all up in the air, when actually they had put a formal bid in for the Columbus school. Pretty shabby. OK, if you’re not sitting down, please do so. I don’t want to be responsible for anyone getting hurt. I must say, I am in agreement with the neighborhood association’s stand against the Columbus school campus. There’s four agencies over here on the Northside handling the homeless. I think the services should be more evenly spread throughout the city.

And just to keep my reputation intact, let you know about the poor pound puppies aren’t allowed in my neighborhood. The people over that the Humane Society got so tired of hearing the neighborhood association whine, they have the unpaid volunteers take these poor animals for their 3o minutes a day outside a cage for a walk through other neighborhoods.

We recycle everything. Besides the obvious paper, glass & metal any thing I can figure out a new use for, I do. I collect those styrofoam packing peanuts until I have a full trash bag and drop it off at a Kinko’s or some such. I take damaged linens down the the Humane Society. We even process the used bars of soap. They’re dried on a rack and then kept in a box until it’s full. Dave at Light of Life was always so excited to get them. When I took them down today, I got a pretty lukewarm reception “Yes, we’ll take them”. I’m replacing all the pillows at the Inn and thought Light of Life could use them on their homeless housing on North Avenue. The receptionist came back from the director of donations and told me they only accept new pillows. I do understand, bed bugs are becoming a major threat. And there’s other critters (lice) that could be transported in a pillow. So I called Bill over at the YMCA on North Avenue that also helps the homeless. He was elated.

The Parador Inn

What Our Guests Have Said

My daughter Carey could not have picked a more beautiful place to stay with her bridesmaids the day before her wedding and the photos that the photographer captured there are enchanting. Thank you for being so accommodating with all the chaos of the wedding day preparations…hair, makeup, etc. I can’t tell friends and family enough about the Parador.